The present invention relates generally to horizontal impactors, and specifically to a system for enabling the rapid manipulation, including inversion and/or rotation of impactor rotor hammers without removing the hammers from the impactor.
The rotors of horizontal impactors are provided with hammers which engage the work to be crushed or pulverized. Although these hammers are manufactured of wear resistant alloys, they become worn in a relatively short period of time. As a result, such impactors must be periodically shut down to permit the replacement of at least one of the hammers in the rotor.
In conventional impactors, the hammer is optimally positioned in the rotor to maximize the wear material utilization, maintain crushing efficiency, and prevent premature rotor wear. When worn to a certain point, the hammers are designed so that they can be inverted to a horizontal axis, rotated about a vertical axis, flipped end-to-end, or otherwise adjusted to a new position within the rotor to make the most efficient use of the hammer material. This process involves multiple handling of the heavy and cumbersome hammers, which are usually completely removed from the crusher. Consequently, a worker safety problem is created by the handling of the bulky hammers. Also, the task of repositioning the hammers for crushing efficiency can be complicated.
Thus, there is a need for a system for replacing and repositioning impactor rotor hammers in which the handling of the hammers is minimized, and in which the accurate repopsitioning of the hammers within the rotors is facilitated.